Just a quick blog-and-run entry on a recent New York Times article reporting that film studios have reached an agreement on “new technical standards that will make it easier for movie theaters to show digitally produced movies.” The studios, facing the increasing costs of making and marketing movies (but ignoring the fact that they could make cheaper movies), are looking to cut corners (movie film prints cost as mcuha s $1200 each, while digital copies are far cheaper and can even be distributed electronically).

It will take some time for individual theater owners to purchase the projectors, so celluloid will not disappear anytime soon, but I think it’s worth emphasizing what is lost when we move to digital projection.